Laurence Lessig, a Professor of Ethics and Law at Harvard, made a very important presentation about how money in politics has completely severed the relationship between Congress and the citizens of the United States. His recent presentation at Google outlines the extensive and insidious nature of the problem, suggests some solutions, and calls on citizens to do their duty to themselves, their fellow Americans, and to the Republic, so that our democracy may be reclaimed from the moneyed interests that play the system to their advantage, or our misery.

Forward this one far and wide, friends, this concerns nothing less than the future of our nation.

Great news! Jill Stein, a candidate for the Green Party presidential nomination, is coming to Arlington!

Details below:

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Tamar Yager
GPUS Steering Committee Co-Chair
Virginia Delegate

Check out the likes and dislikes!

This is great news, right? Well, not really, and I will explain why.

First, the unemployment rate measures people who are without any employment (including part-time), who are *actively looking for work. *So, if you are unemployed, and give up looking for work, you are no longer part of the "unemployment rate."

Here is where the important part of the Washington Post article comes into play:

"The jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, from 9 percent in October, the lowest level since the economic free-fall of March 2009, the Labor Department reported Friday morning. But the improvement in the job market was not quite as strong as that drop would suggest: *About half the decline was attributed to people dropping out of the labor force, no longer counting themselves as even looking for work." (emphasis mine)* * *

What we have here is not so much the generation of new jobs to absorb unemployed job-seekers, we have a general contraction of the labor force as people simply give up looking because so few new jobs are actually being created. This is a tragic loss economically, not only to the people out of work, and the economic and social disruption that unemployment causes, but to the nation in general - we have so much creative talent and productive capacity laying idle, the loss is tragic.

Steps to recovery: 

1. Admit you have a problem, and begin accurately measuring it. A reasonably accurate unemployment rate would take into account: people unemployed who are actively seeking work, people under-employed (laid off and took a lower paying full time job or a part-time job), and the discouraged unemployed (have given up looking for work).

2. Protect the economic status of the laid off through unemployment insurance. Why? Once you sink into poverty, it is very hard to get of poverty. At the macroeconomic level , this keeps more people at a higher level of economic consumption.

3. Engage in value-added public works programs - schools, roads, bridges, dams, conservation projects, inner city revitalization, etc - so that when the economy ticks upward, there will be infrastructure to support growth.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2011

Contact
Miriam Gennari
Press Secretary
Cell: 703-309-1600 / (H) 703-549-1422
Email: press@vagreenparty.org

Green and Qualified!

With development on the rise and plans around Virginia to start producing more carbon based energy at home, citizens concerned about the condition of our states soil and water gained ground this November.  Greens will influence improvements of Virginia environment serving on the The Virginia Soil and Water Board. The Board is made up of elected Directors to represent most  communities in Virginia.  Many of the values and concerns of the organization, which gets it funding from federal, state, local and grant monies, mirror those of the Virginia Green Party. Directors, serve in non-partisan and unpaid positions, working on behalf of their Districts and the Commonwealth.
 
On November 8, 2011 long time Green, Chris Simmons took the majority of votes for the Loudoun Soil & Water Conservations District. Chris is a known leader among his peers in both parties, but the fact that the majority of votes were cast for him is telling.  Elected for a second term, District Vice-Chair and Treasurer, Simmons has spent his last term  great deal educating Virginians about the important work done by the organization. His commitment to preserving and conserving Virginia natural resources, as well as educating citizens is what makes him so influential in his community. He hopes to focus his energy this term on addressing the rampant polluting of Virginia’s  watersheds before delicate ecosystems are irreversibly altered. Some answers says Simmons are easy, “It starts with "Conservation:  Every body, every where, everyday" 

Joining Simmons as Directors for the next four years is Giannina Ienco. Ms. Ienco won a seat on the Tri-County/City Board which is based in Fredericksburg. Although Giannina entered the race at the last minute, she managed to run a successful write-in campaign reaching many voters in the City of Fredericksburg. Giannina's decision to run was not an easy one, "With a full-time job, traveling husband and two young children at home, I was concerned that I would not have the resources needed to fulfill a director position. However, with support and encouragement from my fellow Virginia Greens, I decided that I wanted to pursue a more active role in protecting and conserving the natural resources of our community for future generations."Giannnia spent 11 years working on environmental issue for the US government. Green Party member, Ira Richards who won his bid for Warren County Soil and Water Director brings with him needed professional experience in
sustainable agriculture. “I am very pleased that I will now be able to apply my 30 years consulting experience in soil and water conservation to local issues," says Richards.

Tom Yager, Vriginia Green Party Co-Chair has been scouring the state for active Greens who would like to help in a constructive ways to mitigate the damage being caused business and development.  Yager explains that every diverse region comes with it’s own unique set of challenges.  Finding people who are not only informed but active in their communities is not always easy.  “I look for people who care enough to sacrifice some personal time for Virginia’s greater good. There are plenty of people out there who will find the tough decision to run easier if they know that the Virginia Green Party is behind them.”

Individuals interested in learning more about the role the Greens play in the promoting environmental sustainability should contact their local chapter.   Additional information is available online at http://www.vagreenparty.org 
 
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The Green Party of Virginia is the electoral arm of the Green movement within Virginia. Recognized by the Commonwealth’s State Board of Elections, the GPVA consists of affiliated locals and “at-large” members.  The GPVA is accredited by the Green Party of the United States.

The GPVA provides and promotes leadership in its 10 Key Values, including nonviolence, social justice, environmentalism, grassroots democracy, decentralization, community-based economics, sustainability, feminism, diversity, and personal & global responsibility. 
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As we all know, the Catholic Church is vehemently opposed to same-sex marriage. Therefore, they do not perform same-sex marriages. They have also vehemently opposed all efforts by various states to pass laws that allow same-sex couples to apply for, and receive, marriage licenses issued by the state.

Here is a story from the NY Times detailing the Catholic Church's new 'We're the real victim here' tactic: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/us/bishops-renew-fight-on-abortion-and-gay-marriage.html

The reason that this is a phony victim scenario is that the views of the Catholic Church (no same sex marriage) are still reflected in the vast majority of states. Now, as this changes, the church feels threatened that something will become legal that they do not support. To that end, they raise all sorts of phony alarms about "religious liberty" and "freedom of worship" implying that jack-booted government thugs will force Catholic churches to perform same-sex marriages. (This is also a clever combination use of the "cause confusion and doubt" tactic often used in issue campaigns.)

*Reality check time! Number of same sex marriages that the government has forced any church to perform: ZERO.* In fact, the recent same sex marriage law that passed in New York state specifically states that churches cannot be compelled to perform same sex marriage ceremony's.

The only "right" being "restricted" is the desire of the Catholic church to see their religious view that same-sex marriage is forbidden be reflected in the laws of the state, regardless of the view point of the general public and their elected representatives.

Occupy Wall Street, and its related regional and local movements, have captured the attention and imagination of American's everywhere who fight for the rights of the 99% (in simple terms, that everyone who isn't a millionaire). The current political system serves the needs of the top 1% of income earners and wealth-owners quite well. They and their corporations fund the candidates, and the PAC's, and the think tanks, and the research instutions that support their system of greed. The "Occupy" movement has been characterized by a populist, non-partisan orientation. Meaning, they support values and policies that lift up the poor, the middle-class, and the small business owners, while standing against huge corporations that buy off our politicians, and send our jobs and profits overseas.

Read more here

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Daryl Northrop

David Cobb, 2004 Green Party candidate for President, is one of the leaders of Move To Amend which supports the banning of corporate personhood. Why is this a problem? Corporations, through laws and court decisions, have gathered more and more "rights" that were previously only reserved for human citizens. Now, through their lavish funding of elected officials, corporate "rights" are trumping the rights of individuals and their communities.

Listen in as David Cobb talks about this important issue, and what you can do in your community.

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Daryl Northrop